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Hancock County Historical Society
Carthage, IllinoisSiegfried XIX
Page 197Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Willey celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary quietly at their home Friday, Feb. 28, but in the evening a very lovely party was given in their honor at Fairview school house two miles northeast of Carthage, by friends in the East Carthage neighborhood.
Pitch was played at ten tables with Judge J. Arthur Baird and Mrs. Willey winning high score. Ice cream, cake and coffee were served during the evening. A clothes hamper was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Willey from the group.
Those present were: Mr. and Mrs. Gay Boston, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Boston, Mr. and Mrs. Dick Wright, Arnold Wright, Mr. and Mrs. Zueisher, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Clark, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wright and Dottie, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Biery, Mrs. Mary Biery, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Biery, Bobbie and Ronnie, Mr. and Mrs. John Spangler, and Joan, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Goodrich, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Wright, Mr. and Mrs. Schevenk and Charles, John Huston, Miss Gayle Huston, Ralph Ogilvie, Mrs. Lyle Biery, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wright, Mrs. Myrtle Lierly, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Dye, Mrs. Agnes McCallister, Judge J. Arthur Baird, Jack Little, and Mrs. Harry Spangler.
Jesse Warren Willey was born on the old Willey homestead five miles east of Carthage, Dec. 12, 1863, the son of Johnathan and Cynthia Willey. He attended the country schools and remained on the farm until grown.
Minnie D. Ogilvie was born near Carthage, the daughter of James and Camilla Ogilvie. Her marriage to Mr. Willey took place Feb. 28, 1907 at the parsonage of Trinity Lutheran church here, the Rev. C. E. Wirick officiating. After living on the home farm two years, Mr. and Mrs. Willey moved to Chicago where he was employed by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad for eleven years as a structural iron worker. Upon their return to this county they purchased the farm of James Ogilvie, Mrs. Willey's father which had been in the family since settled by the grandfather, William Ogilvie and there they lived for a number of years, after which they came to Carthage to reside, buying the old Spitler home on South Marion street. Mr. Willey was owner of the Carthage Ice Plant for several years, then sold it and retired.
They are parents of two daughters, Miss Mabel of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Jessie Helen Cunningham of San Diego, California, teacher of English and Latin in the senior high school there. There is one grandchild, Sharon Camile Cunningham. A very happy ending for the wedding anniversary was telephone calls from the two daughters who remembered their parents on this special occasion by sending them greetings.
